Reading back through some of your early statements on Android (and leaving aside Sun-Oracle-Google patent disputes) it seems you had some major concerns about interoperability and consistencies between APIs across devices or within the system itself, and generally like its openness would be problematic because each OEM was just going to do their own thing with it.
How (if at all) have your opinions or views of Android changed at all in the last 4 years?
Companies decide whether or not to participate in these types of surveys.
Companies that are asked to participate can choose, sure, it's not something they apply for, and not everyone asked is actually considered (so yeah, I guess I may have answered myself here).
An interesting side note, my company was asked to participate in this (HR asked us to visit a survey site and fill it out) a little more than a week ago.
I don't know how much actual analysis was actually done, but that seems kinda short to me. Unless, of course, it was a courtesy invite:)
I don't think they're a monopoly and couldn't become one in this space without purchasing or controlling the labels themselves. Additionally they would need to control every outlet for all of that music, not just online.
Apple isn't the first company with an online music store and they have no exclusive deal with any of the labels. Their dominance is self-reinforcing because iTunes is the only way to manage music on your iPod. Maybe that's the monopolistic part you're talking about?
How many iTunes but no iPod customers does Apple have? Likely few. Why? Because there are other ways to buy music. There are other ways to manage your music. There are other ways to listen to your music.
Competition in this space is healthy (although the Ahype around iTunes would have you believe otherwise) and there are enough competitors to offer consumers a choice in how they purchase (or not purchase but stil legally consume) music online. Even if you look at device + music store/library manager Apple isn't alone in this space. Napster has a device. Real partnered with SanDisk late last year and released the Sansa Rhapsody which works with the Rhapsody client software. You can consume that music service through other 3rd party devices like Sonos and Squeezebox. I don't think you can do that with iTunes because they keep the content locked to their devices.
So, I don't know. Yeah, they're popular with iPod users, but iTunes just isn't compelling enough to take over enough of the market by itself to be a monopoly.
It's not like the majority of music purchases in the US or abroad is happening through iTunes or even users of iTunes. Do the editorial staff have an impact? Yes- within iTunes.
Look, if they had that much "power" over what act becomes the next big thing, they (along with the other music services) would be getting more love from the labels, but that's not the case.
Radio, videos, word of mouth- these are all still more powerful than the iTunes ed staff. I'm sure they'll love the ego boost, though.
I will likely buy it because, on the surface at least, it has everything I've wanted in a phone since my first cell purchase in 2000. Biggest feature for me is the full size touch screen. I don't care for buttons/keys much. If the WiFi is really open to access any wireless network and doesn't cost me extra to use (you never know) then the only thing left for me is speed.
If it is really as fast and capable as the demos make it look, that'll make it a "yes" on the purchase question.
The cost isn't really an issue with me and I'm already a AT&T > Cingular > AT&T subscriber.
Though, I would be more likely to purchase once the first or second rev comes out (looking back at the glossy Nano problems, Mac Book Pro problems, etc) so a few initial real world problems get exposed and hopefully fixed.
OK, you're obviously being an ass (and not a particulalry clever one), but let's apply the Apple experience to Home Depot anyway.
Let's pretend Home Depot makes and sells their own cordless drills. You buy one of these drills and shortly after purchase, it stops working properly. So you take it back to Home Depot. For the purpose of this scenario let's also say they have the ability to repair it on the spot. You go to the store, wait in line for an hour (or if you spent 15% of the cost of your expensive drill on the Home Depot care plan, you wait 30 minutes) to talk to a repair specialist.
While you're waiting, you notice many of the other people in line have the same drill. Out of curiosity you ask what's up with their drills, and they all have similar problems.
When it's your turn, you tell the repair guy you want a replacement drill and he says they don't replace them there. All he can do is repair it but you'll have to drop it off for at least a day, maybe more. You leave it there for repair, even though you need your drill for your business, because what you need more is for it to work.
While it's in for repair, you check out forums and boards in the Home Depot Drill community online. You read through the Do It Yourself notes on Home Depots site. You make note of their warranty which says they will repair OR replace faulty drills and wonder why you were told they don't replace units. In your checking around you find indeed that a lot more people have the same problems with their drills.
Home Depot calls you up and says your drill is ready, they replaced the motor and drive unit. You notice on the repair sheet this is more than half the cost of the drill itself.
Now, you take it home and it develops another problem since repair. You can't drill in reverse and if you leave it over night you have to take the battery out and put it back in in order to get it to drill forward. Back to Home Depot for you.
This time, you go to the other Home Depot because you think they might get it right. Waiting in line again, you still see most of the people here, too, have the same drill and describe the same problems you had originally.
You now tell the Home Depot Genius about your problems since repair, and he takes it away for another day or two.
Now, at this point, you're going to come to the same conclusion about your drill that I did about my notebook- it has hardware problems. But that's not the end of the story, because now you're certain it has problems and you want a new one hoping a later revision has the problems corrected.
You go home, call up the Home Depot Support line and talk to a rpoduct specialist. You tell them of your drill's problems and ask how you can just replace the unit. They want you to have it repaired again and if it has problems then they'll talk replacememnt.
Home Depot calls you up, and he can't repro your latest woe. You need to come pick up your drill.
Back home (again) you call up the Home Depot Support line (again) and get a new specialist. He sounds like he might be the key to you getting a new drill until he tells you replacement will take 5 to 7 WEEKS or that you can send your drill into their depot for repair. So now, instead of being without it for a couple of days it's going to be gone for a week or more. Nothing you say will get you a new drill and you realize they've got you over a barrel because you can't afford to pick up a new drill while you wait for them to try, again, to fix your drill.
So you know, yeah, you'd be pretty sure there was a problem with both that product line and their customer service.
... is to see them get their exisiting line of notebooks to work without problems or failures before they add more to the market. I am sad to say, especially with the Mac Book Pros, it seems like they've taken a few steps back with regards to reliability.
I'm probably more than a little biased because my own has had some problems, but so have a lot of other people waiting at that damn Genius Bar in the Apple store. Other customers I've talked to are in there for really similar problems (to mine and each other) and you have to wonder how much QA went into them and then subsequently why they were released with the problems.
Of course, you could also wonder why Apple customers (myself included) continue to stand by their chosen brand and accept it.
Expand the line, but fix the problems first- not after their in the wild.
By far this is the best set of corporate entity responses. Ever.
What really made this actually enjoyable to read was the fact the responders didn't put any BS out there or try to overshadow questions by pumping themselves up on other points or simply responding without actually answering the question (looking at you Dean Hachamovitch). Bonus points for the one instance where they didn't answer by being straight-forward and saying they didn't know yet instead of something like "it'll be a surprise".
I wish everyone who took part in these "Ask..." sessions was as real, writing in actual human tones instead of practiced public relations and investor-safe dribble.
Microsoft is notorious for not following set standards and instead doing what it think is right/better/best, causing the development community to work twice as hard to support it in some cases.
What worries me is that this will turn into some bastardization of PHP that is "tuned" for Windows and then requires hacks or work arounds to get things to work on other platforms.
What might actually be worse would be features that are only available in PHP running on Windows. *sigh*
Also, a little OT, I admit my first impression is that this is the first step in MS playing "me too" by including languages and frameworks other than their own in their operating system (as Linux and Mac do) to woo developers to the platform. e.g. "Look how easy it is to build web apps on Windows with PHP" etc.
So, if anyone from MS is reading, do good by the community and do good for yourselves by not fucking this up. Thanks.
Exactly the bullshit answers I expected. Especially on the question of CSS support. News flash: IE's whacked CSS support IS a REAL WORLD PROBLEM FOR DEVELOPERS.
I should disclose that I've used every version of Windows since 3.1 with the exception of WinME and until OS X arrived, hated Mac OS. I was a long time advocate of using Windows over Mac, in fact, because I didn't see the point of using an operating system that didn't work with mainstream components or software. Granted this was my observation and it was based on the fact that Windows machines are dominant, every Windows PC I've used or owned would run whatever software I wanted, and for a while, this was good.
But as more and more exploits and more and more patches for these exploits surfaced, sometimes causing the tools I'd come to know and love to stop working, the more I had to work to keep my machine secure. This is frustration I feel I shouldn't have to experience. I consider this similar to buying a car and having to change your locks and ignition every month.
As far as the dark alley reference goes, you do get. You yourself said you delete shortcuts to IE (and I presume, you didn't say) Outlook or Outlook Express. That may be to remove the temptation or possibility of opening them, why would you do that unless you were concerned about their exploits? I mean, that doesn't remove the app and so doesn't disable exploits anyway, but I'm curious to know if it's more than just "because they suck".
There are tons of things you can do to protect yourself/your pc like using a firewall or antivirus. There are mail clients you can get for Windows that use their own parsers and rendering engines thus making them invulnerable to most email virus transmissions and other exploits (Poco Mail and Barca were my favorites). Yes, you can tweak your system settings.
But, why should you HAVE to? This is the point I was trying to make. I'm not the average user, I develop software, I'm a total computer nerd, I know HOW to do and HAVE done those things, but I don't WANT to anymore. I shouldn't have to, I just want it to work.
I switched to Mac in March, and after a few Windows-only tool withdrawls, I must say I am doing fine and will never switch back. I'm tired of the weak security and exploits. Using Windows started to feel like walking down a dark alley in a bad neighborhood at night. When you feel like you have to continually watch your OS to make sure it's doing the right thing, in my op it's time to get a new OS. So I did.
That's not to say Mac is perfect and I'm sure the time will come when security will become a more focused concern for Mac users, but I have faith (oddly) that Apple will see this coming, remember what mistakes MS made (and will no doubt continue to make), and adjust accordingly.
Real once again pays some attention to Linux and the same people who whine and cry about big software companies ignoring Linux are throwing a fit.
Also no surprise at the amount "I don't want DRM on my machine" posts. Like it's DRM they're worried about.
And of course, the people who used the RP last decade are still making the same buffering jokes, that never gets old.
Look, is there another music service that works on Linux? Rhapsody does. And on Mac. Does iTunes work on Linux? Any other music service? (Mandriva Linux is building a desktop with built in music service through eMusic, but is tied to their OS)
I dunno, look. I use Linux. I use Mac. I use Windows. On all three, I can listen to music from Rhapsody. I don't have DRM on my machine, I don't deal with buffering, I don't care that it's streaming and Real is the ONLY company who has a product I can do that with.
If I decide I want to watch movies on my Linux box without stealing them or ripping them from my own DVDs, or buy and download music I have two choices. 1- Use Windows or 2- Use Linux and not do either. Meh.
There aren't good options on Linux because RedHat, Suse etc... aren't in bed with Real
Huh. That's weird. I wonder what all these are for then. Looks like I (or anyone else) can go get binaries for the Helix DNA Server v10 for:
AIX 4.3/5.x on PowerPC
FreeBSD 5.x on IA32
HP/UX 11.0 on HP-PA
Linux on IA32
NetBSD 1.6 on IA32
OpenBSD 3.3 on IA32
Tru64 5.1 on Alpha
Solaris 8/9 on UltraSPARC
Windows on IA32
And v11 for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 on IA32
Linux 2.6 on IA32
Solaris 9/10 on UltraSPARC
Windows Server 2003 on IA32
Also, because a distro includes packages from another company doesn't indicate any kind of partnership at all. Case in point: Xandros desktop 1 where Xandros took the Real Player Linux alpha, fixed it and made it the default media player for XD. It wasn't till XD 3 was in development before they actually had any kind of contect from Real.
Case in point is Brian Denham's Killbox comic. The work is amazing.
Regardless of which method is actually used, it takes a mastery of the art to produce great work. Understanding is probably the greater part of any art, the rest is actual technique. You can't just sit down with Illustrator or Draw and whip something out unless you understand the theories and concepts needed to make eye-catching drawings.
Slashdot Mirror
Reading back through some of your early statements on Android (and leaving aside Sun-Oracle-Google patent disputes) it seems you had some major concerns about interoperability and consistencies between APIs across devices or within the system itself, and generally like its openness would be problematic because each OEM was just going to do their own thing with it.
How (if at all) have your opinions or views of Android changed at all in the last 4 years?
Rhapsody doesn't use the RealPlayer. It also works on the Mac and Linux.
Psychological validation?
Write to them you don't have to worry if something will work.
ROFLMFAO
Companies decide whether or not to participate in these types of surveys.
Companies that are asked to participate can choose, sure, it's not something they apply for, and not everyone asked is actually considered (so yeah, I guess I may have answered myself here).
An interesting side note, my company was asked to participate in this (HR asked us to visit a survey site and fill it out) a little more than a week ago.
I don't know how much actual analysis was actually done, but that seems kinda short to me. Unless, of course, it was a courtesy invite
I think if I had an email that was so important I felt I needed to pay for guaranteed delivery of it, I would just pick up the phone.
I don't think they're a monopoly and couldn't become one in this space without purchasing or controlling the labels themselves. Additionally they would need to control every outlet for all of that music, not just online.
Apple isn't the first company with an online music store and they have no exclusive deal with any of the labels. Their dominance is self-reinforcing because iTunes is the only way to manage music on your iPod. Maybe that's the monopolistic part you're talking about?
How many iTunes but no iPod customers does Apple have? Likely few. Why? Because there are other ways to buy music. There are other ways to manage your music. There are other ways to listen to your music.
Competition in this space is healthy (although the Ahype around iTunes would have you believe otherwise) and there are enough competitors to offer consumers a choice in how they purchase (or not purchase but stil legally consume) music online. Even if you look at device + music store/library manager Apple isn't alone in this space. Napster has a device. Real partnered with SanDisk late last year and released the Sansa Rhapsody which works with the Rhapsody client software. You can consume that music service through other 3rd party devices like Sonos and Squeezebox. I don't think you can do that with iTunes because they keep the content locked to their devices.
So, I don't know. Yeah, they're popular with iPod users, but iTunes just isn't compelling enough to take over enough of the market by itself to be a monopoly.
It's not like the majority of music purchases in the US or abroad is happening through iTunes or even users of iTunes. Do the editorial staff have an impact? Yes- within iTunes.
Look, if they had that much "power" over what act becomes the next big thing, they (along with the other music services) would be getting more love from the labels, but that's not the case.
Radio, videos, word of mouth- these are all still more powerful than the iTunes ed staff. I'm sure they'll love the ego boost, though.
I prefer "iDead"
"WiiDead"
*ba-dum-dum*
I will likely buy it because, on the surface at least, it has everything I've wanted in a phone since my first cell purchase in 2000. Biggest feature for me is the full size touch screen. I don't care for buttons/keys much. If the WiFi is really open to access any wireless network and doesn't cost me extra to use (you never know) then the only thing left for me is speed.
If it is really as fast and capable as the demos make it look, that'll make it a "yes" on the purchase question.
The cost isn't really an issue with me and I'm already a AT&T > Cingular > AT&T subscriber.
Though, I would be more likely to purchase once the first or second rev comes out (looking back at the glossy Nano problems, Mac Book Pro problems, etc) so a few initial real world problems get exposed and hopefully fixed.
OK, you're obviously being an ass (and not a particulalry clever one), but let's apply the Apple experience to Home Depot anyway.
Let's pretend Home Depot makes and sells their own cordless drills. You buy one of these drills and shortly after purchase, it stops working properly. So you take it back to Home Depot. For the purpose of this scenario let's also say they have the ability to repair it on the spot. You go to the store, wait in line for an hour (or if you spent 15% of the cost of your expensive drill on the Home Depot care plan, you wait 30 minutes) to talk to a repair specialist.
While you're waiting, you notice many of the other people in line have the same drill. Out of curiosity you ask what's up with their drills, and they all have similar problems.
When it's your turn, you tell the repair guy you want a replacement drill and he says they don't replace them there. All he can do is repair it but you'll have to drop it off for at least a day, maybe more. You leave it there for repair, even though you need your drill for your business, because what you need more is for it to work.
While it's in for repair, you check out forums and boards in the Home Depot Drill community online. You read through the Do It Yourself notes on Home Depots site. You make note of their warranty which says they will repair OR replace faulty drills and wonder why you were told they don't replace units. In your checking around you find indeed that a lot more people have the same problems with their drills.
Home Depot calls you up and says your drill is ready, they replaced the motor and drive unit. You notice on the repair sheet this is more than half the cost of the drill itself.
Now, you take it home and it develops another problem since repair. You can't drill in reverse and if you leave it over night you have to take the battery out and put it back in in order to get it to drill forward. Back to Home Depot for you.
This time, you go to the other Home Depot because you think they might get it right. Waiting in line again, you still see most of the people here, too, have the same drill and describe the same problems you had originally.
You now tell the Home Depot Genius about your problems since repair, and he takes it away for another day or two.
Now, at this point, you're going to come to the same conclusion about your drill that I did about my notebook- it has hardware problems. But that's not the end of the story, because now you're certain it has problems and you want a new one hoping a later revision has the problems corrected.
You go home, call up the Home Depot Support line and talk to a rpoduct specialist. You tell them of your drill's problems and ask how you can just replace the unit. They want you to have it repaired again and if it has problems then they'll talk replacememnt.
Home Depot calls you up, and he can't repro your latest woe. You need to come pick up your drill.
Back home (again) you call up the Home Depot Support line (again) and get a new specialist. He sounds like he might be the key to you getting a new drill until he tells you replacement will take 5 to 7 WEEKS or that you can send your drill into their depot for repair. So now, instead of being without it for a couple of days it's going to be gone for a week or more. Nothing you say will get you a new drill and you realize they've got you over a barrel because you can't afford to pick up a new drill while you wait for them to try, again, to fix your drill.
So you know, yeah, you'd be pretty sure there was a problem with both that product line and their customer service.
With a sub version of the MBP, you'd at least burn a smaller protion of your lap
I'm probably more than a little biased because my own has had some problems, but so have a lot of other people waiting at that damn Genius Bar in the Apple store. Other customers I've talked to are in there for really similar problems (to mine and each other) and you have to wonder how much QA went into them and then subsequently why they were released with the problems.
Of course, you could also wonder why Apple customers (myself included) continue to stand by their chosen brand and accept it.
Expand the line, but fix the problems first- not after their in the wild.
By far this is the best set of corporate entity responses. Ever.
What really made this actually enjoyable to read was the fact the responders didn't put any BS out there or try to overshadow questions by pumping themselves up on other points or simply responding without actually answering the question (looking at you Dean Hachamovitch). Bonus points for the one instance where they didn't answer by being straight-forward and saying they didn't know yet instead of something like "it'll be a surprise".
I wish everyone who took part in these "Ask..." sessions was as real, writing in actual human tones instead of practiced public relations and investor-safe dribble.
Microsoft is notorious for not following set standards and instead doing what it think is right/better/best, causing the development community to work twice as hard to support it in some cases.
What worries me is that this will turn into some bastardization of PHP that is "tuned" for Windows and then requires hacks or work arounds to get things to work on other platforms.
What might actually be worse would be features that are only available in PHP running on Windows. *sigh*
Also, a little OT, I admit my first impression is that this is the first step in MS playing "me too" by including languages and frameworks other than their own in their operating system (as Linux and Mac do) to woo developers to the platform. e.g. "Look how easy it is to build web apps on Windows with PHP" etc.
So, if anyone from MS is reading, do good by the community and do good for yourselves by not fucking this up. Thanks.
Exactly the bullshit answers I expected. Especially on the question of CSS support. News flash: IE's whacked CSS support IS a REAL WORLD PROBLEM FOR DEVELOPERS.
I should disclose that I've used every version of Windows since 3.1 with the exception of WinME and until OS X arrived, hated Mac OS. I was a long time advocate of using Windows over Mac, in fact, because I didn't see the point of using an operating system that didn't work with mainstream components or software. Granted this was my observation and it was based on the fact that Windows machines are dominant, every Windows PC I've used or owned would run whatever software I wanted, and for a while, this was good.
But as more and more exploits and more and more patches for these exploits surfaced, sometimes causing the tools I'd come to know and love to stop working, the more I had to work to keep my machine secure. This is frustration I feel I shouldn't have to experience. I consider this similar to buying a car and having to change your locks and ignition every month.
As far as the dark alley reference goes, you do get. You yourself said you delete shortcuts to IE (and I presume, you didn't say) Outlook or Outlook Express. That may be to remove the temptation or possibility of opening them, why would you do that unless you were concerned about their exploits? I mean, that doesn't remove the app and so doesn't disable exploits anyway, but I'm curious to know if it's more than just "because they suck".
There are tons of things you can do to protect yourself/your pc like using a firewall or antivirus. There are mail clients you can get for Windows that use their own parsers and rendering engines thus making them invulnerable to most email virus transmissions and other exploits (Poco Mail and Barca were my favorites). Yes, you can tweak your system settings.
But, why should you HAVE to? This is the point I was trying to make. I'm not the average user, I develop software, I'm a total computer nerd, I know HOW to do and HAVE done those things, but I don't WANT to anymore. I shouldn't have to, I just want it to work.
I switched to Mac in March, and after a few Windows-only tool withdrawls, I must say I am doing fine and will never switch back. I'm tired of the weak security and exploits. Using Windows started to feel like walking down a dark alley in a bad neighborhood at night. When you feel like you have to continually watch your OS to make sure it's doing the right thing, in my op it's time to get a new OS. So I did.
That's not to say Mac is perfect and I'm sure the time will come when security will become a more focused concern for Mac users, but I have faith (oddly) that Apple will see this coming, remember what mistakes MS made (and will no doubt continue to make), and adjust accordingly.
And if I'm wrong, there's always Linux
Real once again pays some attention to Linux and the same people who whine and cry about big software companies ignoring Linux are throwing a fit.
Also no surprise at the amount "I don't want DRM on my machine" posts. Like it's DRM they're worried about.
And of course, the people who used the RP last decade are still making the same buffering jokes, that never gets old.
Look, is there another music service that works on Linux? Rhapsody does. And on Mac. Does iTunes work on Linux? Any other music service? (Mandriva Linux is building a desktop with built in music service through eMusic, but is tied to their OS)
I dunno, look. I use Linux. I use Mac. I use Windows. On all three, I can listen to music from Rhapsody. I don't have DRM on my machine, I don't deal with buffering, I don't care that it's streaming and Real is the ONLY company who has a product I can do that with.
If I decide I want to watch movies on my Linux box without stealing them or ripping them from my own DVDs, or buy and download music I have two choices. 1- Use Windows or 2- Use Linux and not do either.
Meh.
There aren't good options on Linux because RedHat, Suse etc... aren't in bed with Real
Huh. That's weird. I wonder what all these are for then. Looks like I (or anyone else) can go get binaries for the Helix DNA Server v10 for:
AIX 4.3/5.x on PowerPC
FreeBSD 5.x on IA32
HP/UX 11.0 on HP-PA
Linux on IA32
NetBSD 1.6 on IA32
OpenBSD 3.3 on IA32
Tru64 5.1 on Alpha
Solaris 8/9 on UltraSPARC
Windows on IA32
And v11 for
Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4.0 on IA32
Linux 2.6 on IA32
Solaris 9/10 on UltraSPARC
Windows Server 2003 on IA32
You can find more info on the project page.
Also, because a distro includes packages from another company doesn't indicate any kind of partnership at all. Case in point: Xandros desktop 1 where Xandros took the Real Player Linux alpha, fixed it and made it the default media player for XD. It wasn't till XD 3 was in development before they actually had any kind of contect from Real.
totally, just sum it up in one post:
New Intel architecture- Smaller, faster, better!
New Intel architecture- Smaller, faster, better!
Case in point is Brian Denham's Killbox comic. The work is amazing.
Regardless of which method is actually used, it takes a mastery of the art to produce great work. Understanding is probably the greater part of any art, the rest is actual technique. You can't just sit down with Illustrator or Draw and whip something out unless you understand the theories and concepts needed to make eye-catching drawings.
Medium Design Group has some really cool bags, too.